Request Denied
by Scyphi
Summary: When Johnny's actions jepordize a mission, he gets grounded to the Baxter Building. From there, an intruder causes quite a bit of trouble, all of which only Johnny knows of, only no one will believe him, thinking it's him causing the trouble. Please R&R!
1. Flamed

Summary: When Johnny's actions jepordizes a mission, he gets grounded to the Baxter Building while the others are out. While he's there, a teenage boy sneaks into the Fantastic Four's HQ and manages to steal a "copy" of Johnny's powers as well as a spare super suit. The boy then escapes and starts causing trouble using Johnny's power while Johnny gets all the blame. Can Johnny set things right, or will the others mistrust in him prevent him from doing so?

This is my second fan fic, so please read and review, and let me know what you think of it.

Movie based, takes place about a month after "Rise of the Silver Surfer."

Rated K+, just in case.

Request Denied

Chapter 1

Flamed

"Johnny, get back here!"

Johnny ignored Sue's voice, jumping from the cliff face, shouting, "Flame on!" Instantly igniting into a ball of fire, he zoomed up the cliff face, leaving the other three down where they were.

It was an average day for the Fantastic Four, or at least, average for them. Rescue someone here, stop a crime there. That was about as average as their day got. An un-average day, in Johnny's opinion, was a day in which they didn't do anything, or the entire world was in need of saving.

They already did that last month, so today counted as an average day. Right now they were trying to rescue someone. Some guy in a forest ranger truck lost control of his truck and went off the edge of a cliff. His fall was only stopped by the fact that the nose of the truck got wedged onto a smaller ledge only a truck length from the top of the cliff, so that the end of the truck could still be reached from the cliff top.

When the Fantastic Four arrived, the plan was originally to pull the truck to safety from the top of the cliff, which could be easily done by using their powers. But Reed then decided that was too risky, for there was no way to keep the truck steady from both ends. So while Ben stayed on the top of the cliff and attempted to keep the truck from falling, the other three would come up from the bottom of the cliff in the Fantasticar, and steady the bottom of the truck so it could be pulled to safety.

Only Johnny didn't like that plan. Since the truck didn't need to come out of this alive, he thought it would be easier to just fly up there and pull the driver out of the truck, and then worry about getting the truck back to where it belonged. He voiced his opinion on the matter to Reed and Sue, who were riding in the Fantasticar with him.

"We can't Johnny, that ledge isn't stable, and it's the only thing keeping the truck where it is." Johnny remembered Reed objecting. "Adding more weight to it without steading it could make it collapse."

"Not if we're fast." Johnny had replied, "We could just zoom up there in the Fantasticar, pry the door off, and pull the guy to safety. In fact, we could do it all from the Fantasticar, and never have to touch the ledge."

"Okay, first, Johnny, it's not called a Fantasticar, it's called a FHC. Second, the FHC produces too much wind when flying, it could just make things worse." Reed objected, and had brought the flying automobile to hover some feet below the ledge in question.

"So we're going up there a different way." Sue explained further, turned in her seat so she could see the cliff next to her. Without so such as blinking, she created a flat force field that hung between the side of the cliff and where the Fantasticar hovered.

"Everybody out." Reed had said, engaging the auto-pilot on the Fantasticar then climbing out of the vehicle to stand on Sue's force field.

"You've got to be kidding." Johnny remembered complaining, watching Sue step out on the semi-invisible platform.

"Johnny, this is the plan, and we're sticking to it." Reed insisted, turning to face Johnny. "We're not trying your idea, and we've already told you why."

"Why can't I just fly up there, then?" Johnny asked, stepping out hesitantly on the force field. "I could save the guy myself, easily."

"Johnny, we've got to keep the truck from falling either way." Reed said, as Sue slowly moved the force field upwards like an elevator. "It's too risky either way. I mean, whether or not you saved the driver anyway, if the truck is allowed to fall, the impact could ignite a fire, and seeing that we're in a forest at summer, that could be a problem."

"Reed, you exaggerate too much." Johnny had noted. He still didn't like the idea.

So, now, he was doing it his way, whether the others liked it or not.

Zooming upward leaving a trail of fire behind him, Johnny reached the ledge and gently stepped upon it. The edge he stood upon suddenly gave way under his feet, causing him to have to burst into flames again to keep from falling until he was on slightly sturdier ground.

"Johnny, what are you doing?" Ben growled from the top of the cliff, still trying to hold the truck in place. "This wasn't part of the plan!"

"Well, it changed, Ben!" Johnny shouted back, then carefully stepped along the ledge to the driver side door on the truck.

The driver in the truck was conscious as was aware of what was happening. He looked very frightened.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna get you out of here." Johnny assured him, trying to open the door.

He heard something crumbling, but ignored it. Finally, after melting the hinges on the door with fire, he pulled the door off, and began pulling the driver out of the truck. Johnny thought things were going quite well, and that the job will be done as soon as Reed and Sue arrived here on their force field-vator.

Only Reed and Sue went back to the Fantasticar with the plan of meeting Johnny on top of the cliff, and that was taking more time than Johnny planned on. Then things started to wrong even more.

The crumbling Johnny heard was only getting louder, and then Ben suddenly shouted, "Look out! It's going to go!"

Johnny, having just succeeded in pulling the driver out of the truck, looked up in time to see Ben get dragged to one side as the ledge finally collapsed. The truck tilted towards Johnny, and, without thinking, jumped from the ledge and turned into the usual ball of fire racing towards the top of the cliff to safety.

He forgot what he had in his arms until reaching the cliff top.

"You idiot!" Ben roared angrily, roughly shoving Johnny to one side as he took the driver from Johnny's arms and frantically tried to put out the driver's flaming clothing.

Stunned, Johnny went to the cliff ledge to see where the truck had landed, and saw that Sue had managed to stop it's fall by enclosing it in a force field, then, with great strain, lifted it up to safety on the cliff top as she and Reed flew up to the same location in the Fantasticar.

The glares Johnny got from all three of his teammates told him enough.

"I'm in trouble." he said aloud to nobody in particular.


	2. Grounded

Chapter 2

Grounded

"Johnny, what were you thinking?" Sue said again.

Johnny sat on the couch, back at their headquarters on top of the Baxter Building. Once the driver was taken to the proper authorities, the Fantastic Four went straight back to their home in New York. The 'let's-chew-out-Johnny' session was _officially_ held off until they arrived at the Baxter Building, but Johnny knew it had technically started long before then. A big clue to that was the fact that he wasn't allowed to ride with the rest of the team in the Fantasticar, and instead had to fly home himself.

Johnny looked up at his sister, wondering how he should answer, _if_ he should answer. He looked over at where Ben and Reed stood at the other end of the room, but they both avoided eye contact. It was clear that they planned on leaving this issue up to Sue to resolve, seeing that she was Johnny's sister.

That didn't make Johnny feel any better.

"Johnny, answer me." Sue demanded, giving him 'the look.'

Johnny sighed. "What can I say?" he asked, "I didn't agree with the plan, and acted accordingly."

"Yeah, and it's because of that there's now a man in serious condition in a hospital who could have never ended up there had you stuck with the plan." Sue pointed out.

"Hey, it would've worked had you and Reed _not_ gone back to the Fantasticar." Johnny retorted.

"Johnny, I've told you, it's not called a Fantasticar." Reed interrupted. "That's just a lame name the press dubbed it. It's really called a FHC."

Johnny gave Reed a blank look. "What does that _stand _for anyway?" he asked.

"Flight and Hover Craft." Reed answered automatically.

"Only you could come up with a name so dorky, Reed." Johnny stated, "When you name something and call it by it's abbreviated name, the abbreviated name is supposed to spell something else altogether. FHC, that doesn't spell anything, just..." he paused, trying to figure out how to say what he wanted to say. "Ffffeeehhhiiikkk?" he sounded out, trying to figure out what the letters would spell.

"That's entirely beside the point." Sue said, changing the subject. "May I remind you Johnny, that Reed and I wouldn't have needed to go back to the Fantasticar, or whatever it's called, had you just _stuck with the plan!_"

"I still say my plan could've worked." Johnny mumbled.

"And yet, look where it got us?" Sue said angrily, holding her arms out.

"So I made a mistake for once in my life!" Johnny shouted, standing. "That doesn't mean you all have to get on my case!"

"It does when your so-called mistake nearly killed more than one person!" Sue shouted back. "In case you weren't aware, when that truck fell, it would've fallen on me and Reed, had I not intervened!"

"So what are you going to do about it?" Johnny asked, stepping closer to his sister, trying to make himself look bolder and bigger.

It didn't phase Sue though. "It's clear to me that you need to learn how to work in a team." Sue said, suddenly calm again. "And since every other way to teach you that has failed, I'm left with only one other resort." She turned and started to walk out of the room. "You're grounded."

"_Grounded?_" Johnny repeated, dumbfounded. "You mean like little-kid grounded? You can't do that, I'm not a kid anymore!"

"Then _act_ like one!" Sue called back as she rounded the corner.

For once, Johnny was at a loss for words. "But...but..but..." he stuttered. "Y-you can't! What does this mean anyway?"

From the other room, Sue shouted an explanation. "No TV, no games, no dates, no leaving the Baxter Building, and, most importantly, _no bursting into flames!_"

"What!?" Johnny exclaimed. "But those are all of my favorite things!" Seeing Reed and Ben start to leave the room, Johnny rounded on them for sympathy. "Reed," he pleaded, "You can't let her do this! She's your wife, talk to her!"

"Sorry, Johnny," Reed said, patting Johnny on the shoulder. "I have no say in this. Besides, I think Sue's right, you need to figure out how to work with the rest of the team, and if this is the way to do it, so be it."

He walked off, so Johnny turned to Ben, "Ben, please, I know we've had out differences, but can you help a poor guy out?"

"Sorry, Flameboy, you're on your own." Ben said, waving Johnny aside as he walked off too.

Johnny stood dumbfounded for several more minutes, then flopped down into the couch once again, admitted defeat.

"Great." he said. "This just isn't my day."


	3. Intruder

Now the situation gets a twist... ;)

Chapter 3

Intruder

Johnny hadn't moved from where he sat on the couch all day, despite the urge to get up and do something else. What was the point? It wasn't like he had anything else to do. He hoped doing this would buy sympathy from the other three, but Sue looked pleased, Ben looked ready to gloat about it, and Reed, well Reed just ignored him. He was good at that.

Sometime that afternoon, Sue called for everybody's attention.

"Reed and I are heading out for awhile." she explained. "We need to get some more vegetables, so while I'm getting that, Reed will be looking for a new PDA."

"Since my other one got crushed." Reed added, looking at Ben.

"How was I supposed to know it had gotten left in that chair?" Ben grumbled in his defense.

"Point is, guys, is that we're going to be out for a little while." Sue interrupted, "And since Johnny isn't supposed to be going anywhere, Ben could keep an eye on him?"

"Sure thing, Sue." Ben said, giving Johnny a side glance.

Johnny suppressed the urge to moan.

Reed and Sue left the apartment, leaving the other two by themselves.

"Looks like it'll just be you an me, eh, hothead?" Ben teased, whacking Johnny on the back very hard, most likely intentionally.

"Brilliant." Johnny bemoaned.

oooo

As Reed and Sue left the Baxter Building via it's lobby, a teenage boy dressed in janitorial clothes entered. He promptly began to walk across the room to a far hallway, but the doorman stopped him.

"Where are you going?" he asked politely.

The boy held up a mop and bucket. "I'm here to clean." he said simply through the wad of chewing gum in his mouth.

"Oh, that's right." the doorman said, remembering now. "Go on, then."

The bot grinned, and continued on his path, however, as soon as he turned a corner, he dropped the mop and bucket. He had scheduled with the doorman to come in and clean, but that wasn't what he planned on doing.

Making sure no one was watching him, he headed for the stairs, and started climbing up them.

oooo

"Where are you going?" Johnny asked, watching Ben stomp off.

"Downstairs to the game room." Ben explained simply. "A good chance to play some pinball. Maybe get my high score even higher."

Johnny knew what that meant. "Ben, please don't!" he complained. "If you beat my all-time high score, I won't be able to raise mine to keep ahead until this stupid grounding Sue has me on is over!"

"Exactly!" Ben said happily, "How else would I get the chance to get the all-time high score for once?"

He started marching off again, but paused. "Oh, by the way, Johnny," he said like an afterthought, "Don't think you can try anything now. I may be rocky down to the core, but I still have my excellent hearing. And I'll be listening for anything you might be doing."

He gave Johnny once last taunting smile, then left the room. Johnny stayed where he was, wondering how this day could get any worse.

oooo

Unbeknownst to him, "worse," just so happened to be sneaking into the Fantastic Four's HQ through the stairs placed in the back of Reed's lab. And that was exactly where the intruder wanted to be first.

It was the teenage boy who claimed to be coming in to clean. He first went to Reed's control room, and accessed various files, documents, and programs, making minor modifications to each...despite all of them being guarded by a security password. He then wandered over to a locker like compartment lining one wall, and opened it.

He grinned at what he found.

Spare team uniforms.

oooo

Johnny decided to change his situation for a bit, and chose to sit in the only recliner in the room so he could stare at the wall on the opposite side of the room for a change. It didn't seem any different.

He was tempted to try and sneak some fun into his day while no one was looking, but hit walls every way he tried. Not only was there the issue of Ben's good hearing, but there was the issue of monitoring in the apartment that Reed had set up. For obvious reasons, all the phone calls in and out where monitored, so Johnny couldn't call anybody. All the security cameras were all geared with infrared and they couldn't ever miss Johnny, so he couldn't go anywhere he wasn't supposed to without getting seen by them.

He couldn't play any games because they were all in the game room, and that was were Ben was. And he couldn't turn on the TV without Ben hearing it unless he turned the volume way down, and then he couldn't hear it. So he was stuck, whether he liked it or not.

He must have dozed off at one point, for he awoke when he heard a soft clatter nearby. Rubbing his eyes, he glanced around. It had gotten cloudy outside, and the sun was hidden behind it all, a sure sign of rain. It had darken the room considerably, and that threw Johnny off for a few moments, but then he realized it was so dark because someone and turned the lights off.

Deciding Ben must have come in and done it, Johnny got up and wandered to the fridge to get a drink. But halfway there, the pattering of footsteps stopped him. The footsteps were far to light to be Reed's or Sue's, and they certainly didn't belong to Ben. That only meant one thing. Someone was here who wasn't supposed to be.

It was too dark to see clearly, so Johnny lit one hand aflame and held it out like a torch. Standing before at the edge of the darkness was a teenage boy.

Johnny gave the boy a funny look. "How did you get in here?" he asked. "Did Lenny let you in?"

"Yes and no." the boy answered calmly, stepping towards Johnny. "Regardless of all that, however, I'm here to see you."

Johnny's first impression was that the boy was one of his many fans, but then he realized that he didn't have the usual overactive energy most of his young fans had, and then he remembered that all of his fans were female. The he noticed something else about the boy. He wore a team uniform under his clothes. He could see the edge of one sleeve hanging out. What was this kid up to?

"Here for what?" Johnny asked, letting the boy step even closer.

"Here for some fun." he answered simply, then slapped his hand onto Johnny's shoulder.

Instantly Johnny felt a tingly feeling rush through him, one he knew all to well. The last time he felt the feeling was a month ago, when that silver surfer guy was running around.

He felt it every time he accidently swapped powers with another. But he thought that had gotten nullified, or whatever Reed's term for it was.

However, that thought was shot down when the boy in front of him suddenly burst into flames...


	4. Chase The Fireball

Chapter 4

Chase The Fireball

Johnny didn't know what to say. And that alarmed him, because that was the second time that had happened to him today. It wasn't supposed to happen _at all_. He was supposed to always have something to say in situations like this.

Of course, it wasn't exactly everyday that this happened.

He wasn't exactly sure what to do at first either, and apparently neither did the flaming teenage boy standing in front of him. The boy seemed surprised even, like he hadn't expected things to turn out like they did.

He quickly recovered though, roughly about the same time Johnny remembered all he had to do to fix this was touch the kid again. Johnny reached out to touch the boy, but the boy moved quicker, ducking under Johnny's hand and starting to run, still fully aflame.

The boy a few more running steps, then jumped, and with a sudden burst of heat, took to the air, zipping back along the length of the room, heading towards the nearest exit. A closed window. Johnny ran after him, still trying to touch the boy. But the boy was just too far ahead. Whether the boy planned to do it or not, he smashed into the window, which shattered under the extreme heat. The boy shook off the impact, then started to zoom out into the open air outside the building.

Just as the boy started to clear the shattered window, Johnny took a leap, hand held out, ready to grab the boy's ankle as he flew off, either ignoring the heat the boy was currently producing or simply not noticing. At one point, it looked like Johnny would succeed and stop the boy, but once again, the boy proved too be too far ahead, and all Johnny grabbed was a handful of flames.

As the boy zoomed onward, Johnny also saw another problem. He had leap too far forward, and was now sailing out the broken window too. Starting to fall, Johnny reflexively did what he usually did in this situation; flame up.

A perfectly normal reflex, but it wouldn't have worked this time around.

Or so Johnny had later thought.

Instead, just the opposite happened. He burst into flames as well, like nothing had happened. Johnny hovered there for a moment, staring at the flickering flames spread over his body.

Had he managed to touch the boy after all? He looked up, and saw the boy still streaking away, fully aflame.

Obviously not.

So what _had_ happened to cause the boy to get Johnny's power, but at the same time allow Johnny to keep his? Sounded like something Reed would worry about. So Johnny deiced to leave it to Reed to figure out. He had more pressing things to do anyway. Like catch the boy.

Burning hotter, Johnny zoomed forward, in pursuit of the teenage boy...

oooo

"Johnny, what was that noise?" Ben asked, walking down the darkened hallway, "And why is it so dark?"

He got no answer, but upon entering the living room, he found the broken window with the charred shards of glass and burnt carpet surrounding it. It told him all he needed to know.

"Great, the kid flew the coop." Ben groaned, wrinkling his rocky brow.

Not very alarmed, he marched off for the Fantasticar.

oooo

Meanwhile, Johnny was realizing that he was a very hard fellow to keep up with. Never before now had he ever had to chase after someone with the ability to spontaneously bursting into flames and be able to fly because of it.

Now was a different story, because the boy could travel just as fast as Johnny could, if not even faster, because the boy _was _smaller and lighter than Johnny was.

That still didn't stop Johnny from trying.

The two zoomed around New York, one trying to get away, and the other trying to catch up. Johnny tried every trick he knew to try and catch the runaway fireball, but the boy was always one step ahead of Johnny and managed to slip through Johnny's fingers every time. Apparently the boy was a very fast learner, because he got used to his new ability very quickly, and that annoyed Johnny. It had taken him years to figure out all of those tricks.

Eventually, Johnny was forced to hope the boy would make a mistake that Johnny could make use off, and simply followed after the boy as he zoomed around. The teenager began to zoom around a building, and Johnny promptly followed.

Then the kid surprised Johnny yet again. He had vanished, as in he wasn't there when Johnny rushed around the building.

Johnny looked around quickly, searching for anything that might indicate were the boy went, but failed. Johnny was even more puzzled now. Could that boy turn invisible too? If so, that meant he could be hovering right in front of Johnny and he didn't even know it. The very thought of that, made Johnny wave his hand through the air in front of him, just to make sure that wasn't the case.

It started to rain, but Johnny ignored it. A light rain wouldn't hurt him, so he zoomed higher in the sky so he could see if he could find the boy from above. But as it turned out, it wasn't a light rain, but a very heavy downpour, so much so that Johnny was having trouble staying alight. He could try to burn hotter, but then he'd risk going _too _hot and go supernova, something Reed told him not to do, except for special occasions.

And he still couldn't find that boy, not to mention that the thick downpour was making it hard for him to see, so Johnny finally gave up, and landed on the closest perch to him. Straightening, Johnny looked around to see where he was.

On top of the Empire State Building. And it was blocks away from the Baxter Building. Which meant he'd either have to wait here until the storm cleared up which could be hours from now, or go home on foot.

Johnny made a face. This definitely not his day.


	5. Disbelief

Chapter 5

Disbelief

Johnny chose to remain where he was until the storm lifted, since he didn't want to have to walk home. He stayed there for several hours, and could've stayed there longer, but then Ben arrived in the Fantasticar.

"There you are!" he roared, bringing the vehicle to a hover so Johnny could climb in. "I've been looking all over for ya!"

Johnny didn't say anything as strapped himself in. He was too depressed.

"Rain foiled your getaway, huh?" Ben asked as they started to fly back to the Baxter Building.

Johnny suddenly remembered that Ben didn't know what had just happened to him. "Well, actually, Ben..." he began to explain.

"I don't hear about it." Ben cut Johnny off. "Save it for Sue when we get back."

"Sue?" Johnny repeated, knowing and dreading what Sue would have to say.

"Yeah, she and Reed are probably back by now." Ben said.

And sure enough, they were. Reed was busy putting a cover over the broken window while Sue stood behind him and watched. They had already figured out their own version of the story, and Sue was just waiting for her brother to return.

"Just couldn't obey the rules, could you, Johnny?" Sue asked the moment Johnny walked into the room.

"Well...er..." Johnny said, not sure how to begin.

"Just like when we were kids." Sue said, stepping up to face Johnny. "Mom would tell you to stay out of the cookies and you'd get into them anyway."

"Yeah, but Mom's cookies are the best on the planet." Johnny retorted. "Who wouldn't steal them?"

"The point is that you didn't follow the rules." Sue said, "You had to break out, and in the process broke a window and _ruined my carpet_!"

"You'd think that he'd go outside first before taking off." Reed muttered loudly to himself, stretching on arm out to make sure one corner of the cover stayed attached.

"What made you do it, Johnny?" Sue asked.

Johnny paused a moment, unsure how to answer. "Okay, this may seem a little unbelievable," he began, "But it's completely true. See, this kid snuck in here, and touched me, and...well, remember that time in which anybody I touched, my powers got swapped with theirs? Nearly drove me up the wall? Well, apparently that's still around, cause the kid got my power, then flew out the window, and..."

He trailed off for two reasons. One, realized how unbelievable that all sounded, and two, he could see that Sue wasn't buying it. If anything, it only made her angrier, for now she was starting to turn invisible, a sure sign that she was real mad now.

"I'm in trouble." he muttered.

"Yes, you are." Sue said, as sternly as was probably humanly possible for her. "Did you really expect me to _believe_ that story?"

"Well, yes, 'cause it's true." Johnny said, bracing himself for Sue inevitable roaring.

Then, he remembered something.

"Wait, I can prove it!" Johnny said, quickly clamping his hand over Sue's invisible mouth to stop her from speaking. "Check the security cameras! The kid must be all over them!"

"I already did." Reed said, coming to join them. "They had gotten turned off."

"By you, no doubt." Sue added harshly.

"What?" Johnny asked, sensing he was really in for it now, "How...the kid! He must of done it!"

"So now you're saying that this illusionary kid knows the passwords to our security systems." Reed asked. He was getting mad too, Johnny could tell.

"Well, I sure don't!" Johnny pointed out.

"But you would know where to find out." Sue pointed, calming down at least enough to become visible again. "Much more likely that you'd know them than this so-called intruder you keep talking about."

"I don't!" Johnny pressed, looking for something else he could use as proof to confirm his story. "Reed!" he said, "Test me for that power-switching ability!"

Reed looked hesitant. "Johnny..." he began, but Johnny cut him off.

"Please, just do it!" he begged.

Reed resented, but not before getting a dark stare from his wife. It was clear that Sue was not in support of this.

But Ben had been thinking. "Supposing what you say is true, Johnny," he said, rubbing his rocky chin, "How is it that this boy managed to steal your power and yet you still have yours?"

"Who says that I do?" Johnny asked, realizing that he hadn't gotten to that part of his story before getting interrupted.

"How else did you end up nine blocks away and on top of the Empire State Building?" Ben asked.

Johnny went silent for a moment. "Okay, so I don't know." he admitted, "But I was hoping Reed...could...find...out?"

His nerve buckled under Sue's stare.

"I just want you to know, Johnny, that until you have _real_ proof that gives a dang good reason for your actions today," Sue said, "That full blame for all of this falls completely _on you!_"

And with that, she stomped off.

Reed started to walk off too, but paused in front of Johnny. "If you still want me to do those tests, we can." he said, "But just so you know, I'd be very surprised if they tested positive."

Then he walked off. Johnny felt faint.

Ben noticed. "Hey, don't take it too hard. It'll turn out all right." he reassured Johnny.

"You believe me, right Ben?" Johnny asked.

"No," Ben admitted, "But at least the worse is over now."

"I wish." Johnny said, collapsing into a chair. "How could this day get any worse?"

"That reminds me, _I'm_ the new pinball champ around here." he said as he walked off, chuckling.

Johnny rubbed his face. "It just got worse." he said.


	6. Taunting

This chapter ran a bit longer than I planned, but what can I say, I was on a roll. :P

Chapter 6

Taunting

"Sorry Johnny, there is no indication whatsoever that the switching powers ability has been reactivated in your body." Reed reported.

"You sure?" Johnny asked, standing nearby.

"Johnny, you've made me do the test five times now, how much more sure can I get?" Reed asked annoyed.

It was the next day, and both Reed and Johnny were in Reed's lab, conducting the test Johnny had asked for. Johnny was sure it would test positive, but it didn't.

"How can that be?" he asked Reed, thinking. "I don't see how, but the boy must have it, or there's an entirely different reason."

"Here's one, you imagined it." Reed suggested. "I mean you're whole story is a little far fetched."

"As far fetched as a silver alien flying around the world causing panic on a surfboard?" Johnny asked rhetorically.

"Okay, maybe not." Reed admitted. "But still, are you sure you're feeling alright? Maybe the stress we've been through lately has gotten to you."

"Well, I suppose that's entirely possible..." Johnny had to admit.

"Johnny!" Sue suddenly shouted from the other room. "You better not be doing anything you're not supposed to! Remember, you're still grounded!"

"I'll say this much." Johnny finally said when Sue had finished, "If I have yet to crack, it's a miracle I've lasted this long."

Even Reed had to agree with that.

oooo

"Bad news, guys." Ben said later that day, just getting off the phone, "some building's neon sign is about to fall down, and there's a repairman stuck on it. They're asking us to go save him."

"With the Fantasticar, it should be real easy." Johnny said.

"FHC." Reed corrected. "Okay, let's go."

Sue, Reed, and Ben headed for the hanger where the Fantasticar was parked. Johnny stayed where he was.

"Guess I'll just stay here, then." he bemoaned. "All alone, with nothing to do."

The other three held up a moment to listen.

"Not much to do when you're grounded and got nothing to do." Johnny continued. "Of course with you guys gone, there might be something I could do...maybe go take off flying again like you guys believe I did yesterday..."

Reed and Ben grinned, looking at one another. They knew what Johnny was doing, but it was Sue's call. Sue was completely aware what Johnny was doing too, and it mad her mad, but she realized that Johnny was right. He'd do anything unsupervised.

Sue folded her arms, trying to find some good way out of it. "Oh all right!" Sue finally exclaimed. "You can come Johnny."

"YES!" Johnny yelled, "You won't regret it Sue!" He raced off ahead the group into the hanger.

"He'd better hope I won't regret it." Sue stated, following Johnny and the others into the hnager.

"To the Fantasticar!" Johnny yelled.

"FHC!" Reed shouted back.

oooo

Moments later they were at the scene. The neon sign Ben had mentioned sat on the top of a five story building, the sign itself roughly about ten feet tall. Apparently what had happened was that the repairman was hooked onto the sign, probably changing a lightbulb. When the sign's supports suddenly gave away.

The sign tipped over forward so that it now hung vertically off the building's roof, hanging out in open space. The only thing that was keeping it from falling where some emergency restraints along the sign's base, and they weren't designed to go through the strain they were being subjected to now. The sign was going to fall very soon, and if the Fantastic Four didn't react quickly, it'd take the repairman, dangling from one of the light fixtures on the sign, with it.

As Reed flew the Fantasticar over to the building, he looked down at the crowd that was gathering below. "If they stay were they are," he said to the others, "the sign will fall on them."

"You'd think that would be clear enough that they'd keep their distance." Ben noted.

"They're probably fans, thinking we're here to save the sign too." Johnny pointed out.

"We can't save the sign, can we?" Sue asked, eyeing the sign as Reed brought the Fantasticar to hover in front of it.

"Maybe we can." Johnny said, "At least temporarily, long enough for someone to come up and do it properly. All we gotta do is reattach those metal cords that keep the sign in place."

"And how do we do that?" Reed asked.

"Easy." Johnny said. He reached his arm past Reed, sitting in front of him, and lit his hand aflame.

Reed watched the dancing flames, catching on. "That could work." he said, "We'll need Ben to hold the sign in place, and me and Sue will try and get the repairman, helping out where we can."

Johnny extinguished his hand and leaned back into his seat. He shouldered Sue, sitting next to him. "Glad I came now?" he asked happily.

Sue held off answering for a moment, trying to ignore Johnny's big grin. "Oh, fine." she finally said, "Maybe a little."

Reed landed the Fantasticar long enough for Johnny and Ben to climb off onto the roof. Then Reed swung it around to hang under the sign.

"Ben, you go and try to keep the sign from falling any lower." Johnny said, "I'll take care of those cords."

"Got it." Ben grunted, and went over and hooked his hands around a support beam on the sign and pulling.

Johnny looked for the cords, and saw that both were dangling limply at either side of the sign. He grabbed one, and started to pull it back to a good place to weld it to the stone rooftop with his fire, but quickly saw a problem with his plan.

The cords were too short. They could only be used to with the sign upright.

"Ben, can you raise the sign any higher?" Johnny asked quickly.

Ben shook his rocky head. "It's taking all my strength just to keep the thing from falling." he replied. "I don't have enough leverage to raise all the way."

Johnny ran to the roof's edge, "Reed!" he shouted down to where the Fantasticar hovered under the sign. Reed's arms were currently wrapped around the repairman, in preparation to pull him off. "In order to make this work, we need the sign upright again!"

"Maybe if I used a forcefield..." Sue began suggesting to Reed.

"Do it!" Reed shouted, understanding what Sue planned to do.

Sue quickly generated a forcefield, and using like a lever, raised the sign back to it's upright position.

"Good!" Johnny shouted. "Keep it there for just a few minutes Ben, this shouldn't take long!"

He grabbed a cord and ran to reattach it at the appropriate place, which happened to be where the cord once attached to the roof anyway. Johnny, straining, brought the cord to the roof surface in preparation to weld it to the roof, but was surprised at what he had discovered.

The metal cords hadn't snapped, they had been melted.

Puzzled and making a note to bring it up with Reed, Johnny quickly welded the cord in place, then, knowing that the cord wouldn't stay in place by itself for long, quickly ran and grabbed the other cord, pulling it towards it's proper location too.

He found that it had been melted away too, but quickly went to weld the cord back in place.

The Johnny felt a familiar wave of heat wash over him, and looked up. It was the boy, fully aflame.

"You again!" Johnny exclaimed and went to grab the boy's foot.

But the teenager boy hovered out of Johnny's reach. "You want to catch me, you'll have to chase me!" he said to Johnny.

Johnny was tempted to, but duty called. "You just wait!" Johnny exclaimed to the boy, and went back to welding the cord in place.

"Sorry, either now, or never!" the boy said.

He threw a fireball at Johnny's hand, making Johnny instinctively pull back. The boy then threw another fireball, which cut through the cord in Johnny's hand. It snapped backwards. Johnny tried to grab it but it pulled back. He then heard a ripping noise and turned just in time to see the other cord snap for real this time.

The sign wobbled then began to tip. Ben yelled out as he strained to compensate, but the beam he was hanging onto suddenly snapped off into his hands. The sign continued to drop, and since Sue had lowered her forcefield lever some time back, it was going back into the vertical position. But it didn't stop there, it continued to drop, hanging by mere a few restraints. The sign swung into the Fantasticar that was still hovering below it and began pushing the vehicle into the building.

Sue, having just helped the repairman into the Fantasticar, quickly generated a forcefield to stop from getting crushed into the building, and the Fantasticar became pinned between the forcefield and the sign, now threatening to fall more than ever.

Screaming could be heard below as the crowd watching from the ground suddenly began running to get out the way.

"_Now _they move!" Reed shouted sarcastically.

Ben quickly grabbed a new handhold on the sign to try and pull it up again, but Johnny already knew it wouldn't be enough.

He turned to face the boy, still hovering nearby. "I'll deal with you later!" he promised, then completely ignited himself into flames and went airborne, coming to hover above the sign.

"What are you doing?" Ben shouted from below him.

"Just trying to save the day!" Johnny promised.

He threw one stream of fire along the edge of the room and sign, where they joined together, welding the metal of the sign into the roof. He threw another stream of fire, doing the same thing at the other end of the sign. Slowly, he moved the streams of fire together to meet in the middle.

"Move Ben!" Johnny yelled as he brought the streams to join.

Ben moved, and Johnny finished the welding job. Hoping that would keep the sign in place long enough for his intentions, he zoomed down to stop in front of the Fantasticar's nose. Pushing with all his might and using the force of his flying as added force, Johnny slowly began to move the vehicle out from where it was pinned.

After several tense moments, the vehicle came free with a loud grinding noise as it's hull rubbed against the metal neon sign. With the Fantasticar no long in it's way, the sign swung into the building and hung there for a moment. Then, the roof edge suddenly shattered, and the sign finally dropped the five stories to the ground, long ago cleared of anything in the way.

Satisfied, Johnny flew back up to the roof to chase after the boy, but as he had feared, the boy was already long gone.

"Johnny!" Sue suddenly shouted, none too pleasantly, either, "What happened!?"

Johnny cringed. "Not again..." he moaned.


	7. Back to Square One

Chapter 7

Back to Square One

Johnny found himself grounded again, only this time worse. Not only was he confined to the Baxter Building, he was also confined to his bedroom, at Sue's command. She didn't want to hear a thing about Johnny's story with the boy, thinking it was his idea of a lame excuse.

However, Reed was thinking otherwise.

He knew Sue well enough to know that if you got her mad enough, she didn't think straight. Fortunately, she was very rarely that mad. Unfortunately, she was that mad right now. Unlike Reed, she didn't find it odd that Johnny would persist to his story even after he got such bad treatment for it the first time. Reed realized that if Johnny was still sticking to this story of his, then he was more likely telling the truth. Besides, he didn't find it believable would mess up quite that much with the incident with the neon sign.

Now, all he had to do, was convince Sue. Reed grimaced. In her current attitude, that would be no easy task.

"Sue?" Reed asked cautiously, inching his way into the living room where Sue sat, flipping through a magazine.

"What?" Sue asked, more angrily than Reed hoped she would.

Reed sighed, then decided to get right to the point. "Don't you think you're being a bit hard on Johnny?" he asked.

"No." Sue answered simply.

"But think about it." Reed said, sitting down next to his wife. "Johnny maybe be a little arrogant and very self-centered, but he's not dumb. If he knows something didn't work the first time, he's not going to try it again."

"Point?" Sue asked.

"This story Johnny keeps going on about, the teenage boy stealing his powers," Reed said, "He's stuck to it since all of this began. It wouldn't be like him to do that if he was just making it up. I think it's time we start listening to him and start investigating the possibility that his story might be true."

"You're saying that you actually believe that load of...of..." Sue began, but trailed off angrily.

"I'll admit it seems hard to believe, but think about it," Reed said, but Sue cut him off.

"Reed, Johnny's my brother. There's no one who knows him better than I do." she said.

"True, but I know him pretty well myself." Reed pointed out. "I have a pretty good idea what he would or wouldn't do."

"You'd be surprised." Sue said, staring with daggers at a picture in her magazine. Reed was thankful she wasn't using them on him.

"Look, just think about it for a little bit, okay?" Reed asked politely after a short period of silence, then he walked off.

Sue continued staring at her magazine, and sighed, truly giving what Reed said some thought...

* * *

Johnny sat in his bedroom obediently. He had decided that if he was going to get the others trust, he was going have to play by the rules. Unless of course something happened to change that. And naturally, something did.

He heard a tapping sound on his bedroom window and turned around to face it. There, hovering outside his window, was the teenage boy again.

"You!" Johnny yelled, loudly, "Why I'm going to..." he began to threaten, but then realized that his window, being closed, didn't transmit sound enough for the boy to hear him, especially with the boy fully aflame like that.

The boy seemed to get the message though, for he stuck a flaming tongue out at Johnny before zooming off. Johnny ran forward to the window, ready to jump and take flight, but stopped short. He walked to the window, slid it open, climbed out of it, _then_ flamed on and took flight.

He chased after the boy, again having trouble keeping up. Johnny tried a few new tricks he had thought up while being grounded he could use the boy, and they all almost worked, with Johnny catching up with the boy enough to nearly touch him and end this madness. Yet Johnny wasn't quite fast enough even then, and the boy still eluded him.

The boy turned around the corner and Johnny followed, but Johnny had to stop after that.

"He did it _again!_" Johnny exclaimed angrily, realizing the boy had vanished again, like he had in their first chase.

But, Johnny noted, it wasn't raining this time, so there was nothing else, really, to slow him down. Johnny shot off into the sky, determined to not rest until he had found that boy...


	8. All Out War

Another chapter a bit longer than usual, but alot happens so... :)

Chapter 8

All Out War

Johnny really didn't rest while he searched for the boy. But he spent all night searching for the kid, going over what had to be the entirety of New York City and Manhattan. He found nothing. Johnny began to wonder if this kid left town every time he fled, so that Johnny would have a harder time tracking him. And with him having Johnny's power, it was a good possibility that was exactly the case.

However, but late morning the next day, Johnny was beginning to have seconds thoughts about not resting until he found the boy, for he was so tired, he had dozed off twice mid-flight and nearly ran into buildings because of it. Giving up, Johnny returned to his bedroom in the Baxter Building and flopping down on his bed with the plan of sleeping in.

But he never got that far.

"JOHNNY!" a voice suddenly yelled, very loudly, somewhere else in the apartment.

Jumping with fright, Johnny went to investigate. What he found was not good. The other three were gathered around the TV, all staring intently at it. Ben looked dumbfounded, Reed was looking scientific, at least more than usual. Sue, was livid. Johnny was sure he had never seen his sister that mad.

And that was saying something.

She was too angry to talk, and when she saw Johnny enter, she simply pointed at the TV, indicating for Johnny to watch. He did. A reporter was talking currently. Johnny walked in sometime after the report began, so he had missed at least three or maybe four minutes of it, but Johnny quickly figured out what were in those four minutes.

"...reports are coming in from all over the city, that Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four, also known as the Human Torch, is behind the many incidents that occurred last night. Of them, it is claimed, and confirmed by actual video footage, that Mr. Storm is responsible for destroying mailboxes, setting gardens and trees aflame, chasing after people, attempting to attack them, and even destroying a car! It is unclear what this line of action is about, and the Fantastic Four itself has declined from commenting about it. Police report that..."

Sue suddenly turned the TV off, and turned to confront Johnny. Her next question pretty much covered everything.

"Why?"

Johnny was stunned. "I didn't do that." he said.

"Of course you did Johnny." Sue stated. "You saw the report, they had actual footage of you doing it!"

"Yeah, but it was all from afar!" Johnny quickly pointed out. "They never showed a good view of the incident! You can't prove that was me!"

"Who else has the ability to instantly burst into flames at will?" Sue asked angrily.

"That kid I keep telling you..."

"JOHNNY!" Sue yelled. "I don't want to hear about it!"

Reed suddenly interrupted, beginning to say something to Sue, but Sue cut him off before he got more than a word out.

"Johnny, if you can't give me the truth about your actions as of late, you will find yourself in very big trouble." Sue said.

Johnny knew there was only one thing left to do. "Then lock me up and throw the key away." Johnny told his sister, hoping this will get her to at least sit down and listen, "Because I've already told you the truth."

* * *

"Sue, I built that cell to hold criminals long enough for the police to come and get them, not to lock up Johnny for bad behavior you can't even prove!" Reed was saying, chasing after Sue as she desperately tried to get away from Reed.

"Reed, you saw that news report too. What more proof do you need?" Sue asked, not facing Reed on purpose.

"Johnny brought up a very good point, though." Reed said. "Just because the person portrayed is on fire and flying around, doesn't make him Johnny! We need more evidence! Personally, I think Johnny has been telling the truth the whole time!"

"So you believe his silly story?" Sue asked darkly, ready to turn against Reed too.

"Yes!" Reed answered regardless of the consequences, "I might not have yesterday, but I do now! Those things the news talked about, Johnny just wouldn't do those kind of things just for fun! Not in his right mind anyway."

Sue turned around and opened her mouth to talk about her thoughts about Johnny being insane, but this time Reed cut her off.

"Suppose for a moment that Johnny really did those things." Reed said, "If Johnny really wanted to escape, that cell won't stop him, he'd get out much quicker than you'd think. And he's still there, making no attempt to escape. All he's doing is _sleeping!_ Sleeping, Sue!"

Sue tried to walk away, but Reed stopped her. "Listen, if you won't let Johnny out, then I will, and _together_ we'll figure this out, regardless of your opinion of the matter."

Sue glared at Reed, darkly. "If you do that, I will have no part of it!" she said, refusing to change her mind.

Reed released her and stalked off. "So be it!" he said.

* * *

Johnny was glad of one thing. At least he got enough peace now to catch up on his sleep. He didn't know how long he had slept until he had trouble keeping asleep because he was getting too hot. He tried to roll over on the bed and get to a cooler spot, but failed. He made a mental note that once all of this was over, he'd ask Reed to put an air conditioner in this...

Wait a minute. Reed had told him once that this cell he had built had air conditioning, an item most cells didn't have, and that he had it programmed to maintain the cell's overall temperature at room temperature. So, then, why was Johnny so hot? Had it somehow failed?

Suddenly, he heard a hissing noise coming from behind him. Rolling over on the cot, he turned to face the rest of the cell instead of the one wall. He was surprised to find that one entire wall was currently red hot, and ready to melt. Before Johnny could stop and figure out a solution, the wall suddenly shattered, raining red hot debris down into the cell, setting the flammable things aflame, like the cot.

When the inferno had cleared, Johnny looked to where the wall had been. Apparently that wall was what divided the cell from the outside, for now Johnny now had an excellent view of the New York skyline at sunset. And floating in front of that skyline, no more than three feet outside the cell was...

"You!" Johnny yelled, standing straight up, stepping up to the shattered wall like he planned to challenge the teenage boy.

"Yes, me!" the boy said gleefully.

"Just who are you, anyway?" Johnny asked. He heard footsteps pounding from above him. Sounded like the others had heard the wall collapse and where coming to investigate. All he had to do was keep the kid here.

But the kid was onto Johnny. "Gotta catch me first to find out!" he taunted, he started to move away

"What's with you and this catching thing?" Johnny asked quickly, hoping to hold up the teenager. He could hear the footsteps coming closer, and hoped the kid didn't.

"I'm bored." the boy explained simply, as Johnny listened as the footsteps stopped suddenly.

"I can think of far better things to do." Johnny pointed out.

"Although taunting you _is_ a fun sport, Johnny." a voice said behind him.

The door to the cell had swung open, and Reed, Ben, and Sue stood in the doorway, surveying the situation, except for Sue, who was clearly shocked. It was Ben that had spoken.

Johnny was going to say something witty in response to Ben's comment, but then the boy, knowing his cover blown, turned to fly off. This time Johnny was prepared and instantly flamed on and grabbed the boy around the middle in mid air.

What happened next happened very quickly. Johnny's fire suddenly went out, but just as quickly went out, it went back on. But when it went on, the boy's went off. But then the boy's fire came back, the same time Johnny's went out again. Neither staying alight long enough to provide enough downward thrust, they began to drop, both intermittently flaming on and off.

It took Johnny a moment to realize that they were switching the power back and forth constantly, and it would keep happening as long as they were touching each other. So Johnny let go suddenly. He ended up with the power and became fully flamed. But the boy continued to sink. He no longer could light aflame.

Johnny couldn't just let him fall the several stories to the ground, so he put on an extra burst of speed and got under the kid and zipped up to him from behind, catching him. Again, they began to swap the one power with one another very rapidly, but Johnny's upward force was keeping them airborne for the moment.

It was during that short moment that Johnny realized it was going to be very hard to sort this out now, and that his only chance was to hope that when he let go of the boy again, he'd have the power and not the boy, so that the boy couldn't escape. But he couldn't let the boy fall to his death either, so he waited until they had drifted over the roof of a nearby building to let go of the boy this time.

The moment he did, Johnny instantly realized that he had timed it wrong, for his flame shut off and he crashed onto the rooftop, unable to flame on again. The boy, completely aflame now, used the opportunity to escape.

Johnny painfully got up, glad that at least this time he actually had caught the boy for a little while...


	9. Solving the Puzzle

So, Johnny's powerless...right?

_RIGHT? _;)

Chapter 9

Solving the Puzzle

"Johnny, I don't think I can say just how sorry I am." Sue said, dismayed with herself.

"Well, I dunno." Johnny answered, "You've been telling me that you're sorry every two minutes for the past two hours, so you must be getting close."

Sue grinned, and continued bandaging the ankle Johnny had twisted.

"Tell you what, I'll say 'apology accepted,' and we'll call it good, okay?" Johnny said.

Sue nodded in agreement, and continued bandaging Johnny's ankle.

Ben stomped in. "I've talked to the police, told them the situation." he reported, "They're dropping the changes against Johnny."

"Well, there's another problem down." Johnny said, glad that his week was starting to look up finally. "How are things going on your end Reed?"

Reed turned around in his seat at the computer console he was facing. "Well, I've figured out a few things as to why this mess happened in the first place." he said. "Johnny was right when he suggested that the boy has the transfer ability. I think the reason that the boy got your power while you also kept it, is that the transfer wasn't complete. Perhaps the boy didn't touch you long enough, or the transfer ability isn't as strong as your's was Johnny."

Sue finished with the bandage, so Johnny limped over. "Okay, but where did he get the ability?" he asked.

"That's just it, I don't know." Reed admitted. "I also don't know how it's even possible that he could have it. From what I learned when you had the ability Johnny, it only worked on those with powers. So far as we know, he doesn't have any such abilities other than your fire power."

"So, I'm powerless right now." Johnny stated.

"Pretty much." Reed said.

"Well, what are we going to do?" Sue asked, coming over to join them. "Have we determined who this boy is?"

"No, I have nothing to use to figure that out." Reed said.

"I'm not interested in who he is, I'm more interested in getting back from him what's rightfully _mine._" Johnny said.

"Johnny, think." Reed said. "If we knew who this kid is, we would have a better chance of tracking him down than by not knowing who he is."

Ben was standing nearby, his rocky brow furrowed in thought. "Reed, could this kid have gotten that transfer ability from the Silver Surfer when he was here, like Johnny did?" he asked.

Reed thought that through. "I suppose it's possible." he admitted. "Norin was going all over the world and there was several times when we couldn't track his position. The two might have met up with one another long enough for the boy to get the transfer ability. But we have no proof."

"And that's not even the tip of the ice burg." Johnny added, staring at Reed's computer. "We still don't know how this kid managed to get past our security systems to get to me in the first place. And, he _knew_ about the transfer ability and how to use it. He had planned this from the start, and considering his age, he planned it very well."

"My guess is that he managed to program our security system to ignore his presence in some discreet manner." Reed stated. "But that in itself is quite a feat, and I have yet to figure out what that teenage boy did."

"I wish we could just see what he did." Johnny murmured aloud, still staring at the computer screen.

Then, to his surprise, a small window popped up on the computer's screen filled with lines upon lines of codes. "Um, Reed, what's your computer doing?" he asked, puzzled.

Reed turned around in his seat to face the screen. His eyes widened in surprise. "These are codes imbedded into the security systems to tell the infrared sensors to not record a certain scale of temperature!" he exclaimed, shocked. "The codes the boy must have used to sneak in here unnoticed!"

"Whoa, convenient that just popped up out of the blue." Ben said.

Reed turned to Johnny. "How did you do that?" he asked.

"I dunno, I just was thinking how much I wish it'd just pop up, and it did!" Johnny exclaimed, just as surprised as the others. "Maybe it's just a coincidence! Maybe your computer just happened to chose that moment to find those codes!"

"No, it couldn't have!" Reed said. "The boy knew what he was doing. He had the codes set so that they could only be brought up unless the right command was given to the computer!"

"So you're saying that I did it?" Johnny asked, bewildered. "I don't know a thing about that techno-mumbo-jumbo! I didn't even _touch_ the controls for your stupid computer!"

"But you did state you wished it bring up those codes." Sue pointed out, innocently.

"So, you're saying I can just think and make the computer do stuff?" Johnny asked. "How likely is _that?_ It's not like I can just tell the computer to bring up Pac-Man just by _thinking._"

At that moment, Pac-Man loaded automatically on Reed's computer without receiving any conventual commands to do so. The four stared at it, dumbfounded.

"You know," Reed said slowly, looked at Johnny, "I'm starting to think that boy _did_ have a real power after all."

Johnny looked at Reed, shocked. "Which means that I must have it." he concluded.


	10. Bait

Chapter 10

Bait

"So, what exactly is this power?" Johnny asked, staring intently at Reed's computer, while it automatically played a game of Pac-Man by itself. It was like someone was controlling the game from a remote source, but they all knew that it was Johnny that was doing it. And he wasn't touching the controls at all.

"Well, I don't really know." Reed admitted. "Apparently you've obtained some ability to control a computer with your mind. It'd be kinda like telekinesis, only limited to technology, I guess."

"So, he's like a techno-path, or something." Ben said.

Reed gave him a look. "I thought only Johnny came up with the weird names." he said, annoyed.

"Hey!" Johnny complained.

"So, he can control technology by thought." Sue stated. "But to what extent?"

"Well, I can't really know without further research." Reed explained, watching Johnny lose at Pac-Man, "But what gets me is the fact that there is no Pac-Man installed on that computer."

Johnny broke his stare at the computer screen to look at Reed. "Then how is it that it's here with me I playing it?" he asked, puzzled.

"Again, I can't know for sure without doing some research." Reed said. "But as I see it, there are two possibilities. One, you somehow managed to go online and download it from another system, or, you somehow put a clone of the game together from scratch. Almost instantly, I might add."

"I can do that?" Johnny asked. "Cool! I wonder if I could put together a copy of Halo..."

"But this makes sense." Sue said while Johnny attempted to create some other games, "This would explain how a teenage boy managed to get past our security systems so easily, and be able to hide his tracks so well."

"But where did the kid get this power?" Ben asked, his rocky lips pulling into a frown.

"We could speculate," Reed said, "but the only real way to find out would be to ask the kid."

"But the kid could be anywhere!" Ben said. "How would we find him?"

"Hey, I did it!" Johnny exclaimed, as Halo began to load on the computer. He turned and saw that all of the others were looking at him. "What?" he asked.

Reed grinned slyly before answering Ben's question. "We use a little bait." he said.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Johnny complained.

"Trust me Johnny," Reed assured him via a concealed earpiece in Johnny's ear. "It's the only way I can think of to get the kid back here. And since he seems to be so bent on annoying you..."

"I make the perfect bait." Johnny finished, grudgingly. "Now I know how a worm on a hook feels."

"At least you're not stuck underwater." Ben pointed, his voice now coming through on the earpiece. "And, we're here to help you when the kid comes."

"Where are you guys anyway?" Johnny asked, staring at the sun as it set behind a range of mountains on the other side of a lake.

"We're hiding in the cabin, where we can't be seen until we act." Now it was Sue's voice that was being broadcasted.

Johnny groaned, staring out at the lake that sat out in front of him. "You sure this will work?" he asked, "I'm sure the kid isn't going to fall for our cover story _that_ easily."

"What's wrong about it?" Reed asked. "We told the media that we determined your odd actions last night were do to stress, and that we were all going on a vacation to Ben's cabin to unwind. The only people who know the truth behind that is us and the police."

"And the kid." Johnny reminded Reed.

"Not so." Reed corrected. "He knows that it wasn't you that caused the terror last night, and rather it was himself, but that's as far it will go. Beyond that, he'll only know what the media knows."

"He's still going to suspect something, I know it." Johnny insisted. "He knows you guys now know he's out there in the world. Besides, if he was smart enough to..."

"Shush! Here he comes!" Sue suddenly called out a warning.

Johnny promptly shut up, and pretended to be reading a book. He was dressed in casual clothing, the kind you'd were to a cabin near a mountain range, but under it was Johnny's team uniform, ready for use should he need it. He saw a flash of light out of the corner of his eye, but ignored it, pretending that he was your average joe not suspecting any kind of attack from a kid who could walk around on fire unharmed.

It was when the roar of the flames grew to be too loud that Johnny looked up from his book, acting mildly surprised. There was the boy, hovering above the cabin's patio where Johnny sat, fully aflame. When the boy saw that he had Johnny's attention, he flamed off and landed, still wearing a the team uniform he had stolen.

"Not you again!" Johnny declared, standing up angrily, "When will you leave me alone? You're turning my life completely upside down!"

"That's the idea." the boy said. Johnny realized that the boy wasn't his usual, giddy, self. Instead he was acting very serious. Deadly serious. And he looked mad.

"What do you mean, that was the idea?" Johnny asked.

"In case you haven't figured it out," the boy said, starting to pace around Johnny, "We're actually more alike then you'd think. Like you, I have inhuman abilities, but unlike you, I have _zero_ percent of the popularity that you have. People treat me like dirt. And I'm here to change that, to take your popularity away."

Johnny struggled to say something that wouldn't give away what he did know already, and it must of showed, for the boy groaned.

"You can cut the act." he said. "I can see that you _do _know more then you're letting on."

He was still pacing, and was almost in front of the open sliding glass doors leading into the cabin. Like according to plan.

"This whole trip that you fed the news guys about is fake, isn't it?" the boy asked, continuing on with his pacing, unaware of what was happening.

"Alright you caught us." Johnny said. "But you really have put a lot of stress on not only me, but them as well, which is exactly why they're here too."

The boy's eyes widened with surprise, and quickly took to the air just as Ben came charging out the open sliding glass doors to catch the boy. Missing, his momentum carried him onward past Johnny and off the patio, tumbling to the wooden boat dock that stood on the lake's edge. One of the boards on the dock broke, and Ben's arm slid into the gap, and became stuck, for Ben was struggling to pull it back out again.

The boy landed again. "Nice try." he said, tauntingly, "but not good enough. See, I know you no longer have your precious fire power." to prove the point, he alight on hand aflame, forming a ball of fire. "And as such, you're defenseless against it!"

He threw the ball of fire. Johnny jumped out of the way, and it impacted the chair he had been sitting in, flipping it over, and burning a hole through it. Sprawled out on the ground, he turned back to face the boy, who was gearing up to throw another ball of fire. Behind him, Reed was running forward to grab the boy and hopefully stop him.

Then Johnny realized something. "Reed, don't! Stop!" he shouted.

But it was too late, Reed touched the boy. A moment later the boy flexed his arm out like a rubber band and wrapped it around Johnny, while Reed suddenly burst into flames...


	11. Power Struggle

Chapter 11

Power Struggle

So now Reed's on fire, the kid's super-stretchy, and I'm about to get wrapped up by him. Johnny thought. And no sooner had he had the thought was that true. For a moment. The instant the boy's super-stretched arm touched Johnny, the power was transferred to Johnny, and the arm was forced to take normal shape.

So now Johnny was stretchy, Reed was on fire, and the kid had the techno-path ability, or whatever it should be called. But then Johnny saw a big problem. How where they going to catch the kid, when every time they touched him, they swapped powers. What they needed was some way to stop him without touching the kid.

Reed realized that before Johnny did and used his newfound fire ability to hurl a small fireball at the kid. The teenager saw it, and ducked, and the fireball instead hit Ben, who was in the process of rejoining the fight. The boy then, knowing his power better than any of them, used it in self-defense.

The lights in the cabin suddenly flashed on, and brightened to near blinding levels. Everyone had to look away, and since the boy stood in front of the cabin, they couldn't look right at him without risking getting blinded by the light. Except one person.

Suddenly invisible arms wrapped around the boy and picked him up into the air. The boy struggled for a moment against Sue's grip, while the others watched, waiting to see if they would be needed.

But again, everybody forgot about the transfer ability that the boy had, and after a moment, Sue reappeared, and the lights in the cabin dimmed to tolerable levels. Sue struggled to hold the boy still, but ultimately failed when the boy used a forcefield to push himself out of Sue's grasp, knocking both of them apart.

Johnny ran forward and grabbed the boy, knowing that if the boy had Sue's powers, they needed some way to keep track of him. But the powers were transferred again, and the boy slipped out of Johnny's grip by using Reed's power, leaving Johnny with Sue's.

Johnny knew they were getting nowhere fast, and that physical combat with the boy just wasn't going to be possible. He needed to trap the boy by some other means. Like a forcefield. Inclose the kid in a forcefield bubble, and he can't get away. And currently, Johnny had the ability to control forcefields.

But the kid was smart, and quickly ran up and shoved Johnny. The action did little to harm Johnny, but it was the touch that counted. The kid had Sue's power now, while Johnny was stuck with Reed's again. Johnny wasn't sure he could generate a big enough forcefield anyway.

Ben finally got back into the fight, and grabbed the kid himself, but promptly the boy turned into solid rock while Ben turned to normal. The kid, having the stronger power, was able to shove Ben aside.

"Ben!" Johnny shouted, chasing after the kid as he made a break for it, "Enclose the kid in a forcefield!"

Ben tried, but all he managed to do was to fire a very small one off like a projectile in Johnny's direction. It slammed into Johnny, which shoved Johnny forward into the boy. As both picked themselves up, Johnny was now the walking rock while the kid had Reed's power.

"I can't produce one big enough!" Ben shouted, as the others all ran to grab the boy all at once. "I can't control the power that well!"

"Only I could control the power like that, I guess." Sue said, trying to grab the boy.

But the boy had used Reed's power to coiled up his legs into springs and jumped up onto the roof of the cabin. He started to clamber up to the top of the slanted surface.

"Okay, so Sue need's the power, but only the kid has the transfer ability." Reed said, as they stood on the ground, trying to figure out how to reach the kid. "In order to get the power back to Sue, it has to go to the kid first."

"Okay, so we have Ben touch the kid, and then have Sue touch him." Johnny said. "Only how do we reach him from down here?"

"It can be remedied." Sue said, holding her arms out like she was manipulating a forcefield.

Only a moment later, they all saw that wasn't what she was doing, for the moment the kid reached the top of the roof, the Fantasticar hovered up above it, with no pilot, and shot towards the boy. It purposely shot over too high, and wouldn't have hit the boy, but it came close enough that it startled the boy and he lost his grip, slipping off the roof to the ground.

At first, Johnny didn't understand what had happened, but then remembered that Sue was the one currently with the techno-path ability. He realized that she must have been the one controlling the Fantasticar, now coming to land on the dock by the lake. The Fantastic Four, as a team, then gathered around the spot where the boy had landed on the ground. Since he had Reed's power, he was unharmed and was conscious, but was stunned, and merely looked up at them.

Calmly, Ben bent down and touched the boy for a moment. Then Sue bent down and touched the boy for an equal amount of time. Then the Fantastic Four took a step back as the boy was enclosed in a forcefield, being rightfully controlled by Sue.

Johnny took a step towards the forcefield and stared at the boy being held within. "You've been a very bad boy." he said, giving the boy a rocky grin of victory.

* * *

One more chapter to go!


	12. In Retrospection

So here it is, the last chapter, here only to tie up the loose ends in the plot. I had considered writing a chapter which told about the references hour taken to get everybody's powers back where they belonged, but considering that chpt. eleven came out very confusing and that I'd really have to sit down and think it all through, I chickened out and jumped over that moment. Hope you guys don't mind.

Anyway, on to the final chapter!

Chapter 12

In Retrospection

Sometime later, the Fantastic Four walked out of the New York police station, all having their rightful powers again and feeling quite happy. It wasn't easy getting it that way, for they had all spent over an hour with the boy swapping powers back and forth, trying to get the right ones in the right people. It didn't help any that the boy had refused to cooperate.

But it was only denying the inevitable.

To express his happiness, Johnny made a fireball and began juggling it. "Good to have everything back to normal." he remarked. "It's been a pretty hectic these last few days."

"Yes, for all of us." Reed agreed, likewise familiarizing himself back with his own power by flexing his arm. "I'm glad it's over now."

"But just who was that boy, and what in the world was he planning to do?" Sue asked.

"Well, the boy wasn't willing to tell me who he was." Reed explained, "So I took the liberty of doing some researching, and found out that he's Jacob Roberts, a sixteen year old from New Jersey. Apparently he had ran away from home a month ago due to social pressures."

"What kind of social pressures?" Ben asked.

"According to his parents, he was teased a lot for his shy and reserved personality." Reed continued to explain.

"Shy and reserved, hah!" Johnny repeated sarcastically under his breath.

"What his parents didn't know was that the boy had a superpower." Reed went on without acknowledging Johnny's remark. "But quite a few of the boy's 'acquaintances,' did. The problem Jacob now faced was that he got negative reactions to it, most of them finding the ability completely outmatched by our own powers, and apparently he was told as such quite often."

"So that's what he meant when he said he had zero percent of the popularity." Johnny thought aloud, accidently stumbling and dropping the fireball he was juggling into a overfull trash can, lighting it aflame. Sue quickly enclosed the can in a forcefield to cut of the flame's oxygen supply, quickly putting it out. "To everyone else, we, the Fantastic Four, were far cooler than himself. Which is true."

"Wait, are you saying that the kid was simply _jealous_ of us having all the media and attention that we get?" Sue asked.

"Of course." Reed said. "That was the fuel for all of his actions against us."

"Oh, but if only he knew what it was really like!" Sue exclaimed. "Some days I wish I could just get rid of the media all together."

"So this boy, Jacob, attacked us like this just so he could try and get some of the attention?" Ben asked. "Attention for what? Being the next supervillain in the world?"

"That was pretty much his plan, yes." Reed admitted. "He knew that if he could pull it off, the attention would all start shifting to him. I guess he didn't think about what kind of popularity that would be getting him."

"Okay, so we know what the kid planned to do." Ben quickly recapped, "But what I want to know is how the kid _got_ the power in the first place. You just don't find the cosmic energy needed around here very much."

"Well, we were right to theorize that Norrin Radd played a hand in this." Reed explained. "When the Jacob found out I knew his name, he knew that his gig was up and went right out and explained it all to me. You guys remember when the Silver Surfer caused that black out in New Jersey shortly after he had arrived on Earth?"

"No, but we'll take your word for it." Johnny remarked.

"Well what had happened was that Jacob was up an apple tree trying to pick apples for his mother when the black out occurred. The Surfer, having finished whatever it was that he did, was merely passing by and happened to shoot right past the apple tree Jacob was up in." Reed said. "It happened so quickly that Jacob didn't get a good look at Norrin, and Norrin probably didn't even see Jacob. But it was close enough that the cosmic energy that surrounds Norrin's board to reach Jacob, and it did it's thing. The next day, Jacob discovered his techno-path power."

"What about the transfer power?" Johnny asked. "Did he know he had it?"

"He suspected it." Reed said. "Despite the government's attempts to keep parts of the whole incident with the Silver Surfer under wraps, parts of it still got out, most notably is Johnny's own transfer power, which examples of had been caught on film. Jacob, upon seeing some of this footage, added two with two and figured out the connection, and guessed that it was possible that he had it too.

"For him, though, it was only an added bonus and wasn't important to his original plans, because he knew that the only way find out if he had the power would be to touch someone else with a superpower. He knew that it wouldn't be good to center his plan on that ability only to find out that he really didn't have it. His original plan was to overwhelm the first member of the Fantastic four that he found with his techno-path ability, which we have already proven has much more power than it had first gotten credit for."

"So what will happen to Jacob Roberts?" Johnny asked as they reached the Fantasticar and started to climb into it.

"The police is going to hold him for about a month or so." Reed explained, strapping himself into the pilot's seat. "The transfer ability isn't permanent, and it's already starting to wear off. That's probably why when Jacob first used the power on Johnny, only a partial transfer occurred. Just to be safe, the police will keep him locked up away from anything technological that he might be able to control until the transfer ability wears off, then they'll send him back to New Jersey where he'll go to a juvenile correction center for awhile."

"Well, it's not like he didn't have it coming to him." Johnny said, leaning back in his seat. "And anyway, all is well that ends well."

"We ready to go now?" Ben asked, from the back, waiting for them to takeoff.

"Yes." Reed answered, powering up the craft's engines.

"Fantasticar, AWAY!" Johnny exclaimed dramatically as the craft began to hover.

"Johnny, for the last time, it's called an FHC." Reed corrected.

"Oh, come on, Reed, can't we just call it the Fantasticar, avoid the confusion?"

Reed grinned inwardly just as the Fantasticar began to speed away towards the New York skyline. "Request denied, Johnny."

The end. Thanks for all the support you guys have given for this story. :)


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